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First off, I'd like to apologize for taking so long to post an entry! It was my intention to post at least one per day, but... well, I'll explain later. So thanks for being patient, and I'm planning on doing one-a-day until I'm back!
Whew!
Okay, so on the first day of my trip (actually just the flight part), I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie with my friend Laura. It was fantastic, I'm really glad I went to see it, and was even more excited when they went to PERU! Nazca AND Cusco... I can't wait!
We caught the 1pm show, my flight wasn't until 9:25pm, so I figured I should have plenty of time to get to the airport after the show. Looking back, I'm glad I planned for the worst case scenario, but getting to the airport at 5pm was really a bit ridiculous! I was checked in, through security, and waiting at the gate by 5:30. Zzzzzzzzz.... Next time, only 3 hours ahead *check*.
The flight was pretty uneventful, the most interesting thing that happened was that I had pre-selected my seat, and it turns out that there was no-one sitting
A typical Parisian street
Cafes, motorbikes, smiling faces.beside me. I think it was the only seat on the plane that was empty! We took off 30 mins late, and about 30 minutes into the flight I watched the moon rise over the clouds. I realized about half-way through the flight that I still couldn't believe that I'd be in a different country, on a different continent, when we landed. I think I got about 30 mins worth of crappy sleep on the flight, so I was pretty dazed when we landed. We landed and deplaned by stairs, got on a tarmac bus, and walked into the terminal. After lining up to have our passports stamped (my first stamp!!), we collected our luggage. I grabbed my bag and follwed the signs that said "Customs" on them. I didn't realize until after I went through those big "DO NOT GO BACK THROUGH THESE DOORS" doors, but I didn't go through any customs after I grabbed my bags. I remember thinking "umm... should I tell someone about this?" Fortunatly, there were a bunch of other people around, and one of them was kind enough to tell me that the passport stamp WAS customs. Jeez... all they said was, "Bonjour" and
"Au revoir". Huh.
The company that was doing the airport transfers somehow screwed up, and it took my hotel group about 45mins to finally get a driver and a van. The first thing he asked us was "Do you have directions to the hotel?" I figured it would be a great adventure, no matter what! Fortunately, he seemed to know where he was going, and got us to our hotel in good time, without any back-tracking. After finally checking into the hotel ("You have to put your card key in the slot in your room to turn the lights on"), I managed to lock my safe open on the first try. (Hint: Don't press the clear button first.) Somewhere in here, Day Two started, by the way.
After exploring my hotel room (which is quite nice... probably way too nice for me, but oh well), I went for a wander around the city. I walked from my hotel room to Bastille (a big roundabout, with an obelisk. One of many), and wandered around the side streets. I somehow wandered into a memorial garden, which was in a courtyard of some historic library.. I think. I then wandered into
the big park within the Henry IV apartments, and wouldn't you know it? There was a statue of a guy on a horse in the middle of the park. Seems to be a lot of those around here. After wandering back to the Bastille roundabout, I discoved a sort of openair market in the median between two of the streets feeding Bastille.
There are cafes everywhere here, EVERYWHERE. The preferred mode of transportation seems to be motorbikes, they have a lot of them, and they are all crazy! I was pretty tired from all the walking, so I headed to the Metro at this point. I bought a Paris Visite ticket (I'll go into more depth later), and headed back to my hotel. I'll tell you all about the transit system in a later entry, but suffice to say, it's awesome. There are also a whole bunch of bike rental... um... places... posts... vending machines? all over the city. I think the first 30m is free, after that it's about 2 euros for half an hour. This is a great system, although a bit pricey. After getting back to my hotel, I went back out for food, and grabbed
a baguette and a 7-up from a place down the street from my hotel. I'll give you the full story soon! I went back out after that (in search of an adaptor), and had my first Eiffel Tower sighting! YAY! The last thing I have written down from that day is this: "Lots more crazy architecture. Exhausted, wow!"
I'm gonna post this, then head out for some food. I'll get more out to you soon!
Love and miss you all!
-Paul
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